Storm of the World
by Alis.Coles
Summary: Goodness, I've forgotten how much I hate these. Let's see... OC team in Suna... and the rest is a spoiler, though I'm sure at the word "OC" I've already lost you. For those STILL reading, open up the page and see what happens
1. Episode One: The Dwindling Boy

AN: Okay, so I know I haven't been active... at all... in forever. I highly doubt anyone remembers me anymore, but you people could surprise me. Anyways, I've cleaned out my stories. I will not be finishing them as they are stories I wrote when I was much much younger. I do not have them on this computer, they were mostly written two or three computers ago. So nobody ask for them, they are gone forever. With this story, I will promise to TRY to finish. I have issues with finishing things. I drive my mother crazy at dinner. I've enlisted people to help me keep on it, mostly by inserting them into my story. They have an interest and I'm reminded that I have to work on it. Everyone wins! Moving along with this little note. I will try to have a new chapter every Thursday, goals help me keep at things. If I don't upload a chapter on Thursday you have my permission to spam me until I upload. Of course, if there was to be a good reason for me being late. Example, this summer I'm going in for another huge surgery. I will inform you. Okay, rant finished, enjoy.

P.S- Any complaints about this over-used "O.C with Gaara!" and I shall maim you with a spork! You have been warned .

_**Episode One- The Dwindling Boy**_

The sky was near crystal clear. To an uninterested eye it might appear to be one simple color. However, if one looked closely you could see it was actually a swirl of every blue imaginable. A few low dark clouds rolled through the sky on the lazy wind, offering no promise of rain as they were too far off. No relief came to this desert city. The only thing that broke the blue of the sky was a hawk. It was large; its copper feathers glittered in the blazing sun. Piercing golden eyes searched the desert for any sign of game to hunt, for a thrill as much as survival. But in the heat of the day nothing was out, not even in the city, only a lonely mob of red hair offered any hope. The hawk swooped in for a closer look, but as it neared the mass of hair, a small boy appeared rather than an animal that could make up its dinner. Almost dejectedly the hawks rose up in the air again, and flew out, past the city were the red-haired boy sat.

The hawk did not go unobserved. The small, young boy watched the copper hawk with piercing, sad, teal eyes. He was snuggled tightly into a small nook that sheltered him from the radiating sun that beat down on the rest of the city.

The boy was small and sad looking. From the look of him it was easy to tell that he was one of the wallflowers. A neglected boy, not used to attention, he had the look of someone who was someone who watched instead of played with others.

Across the street from the boy was a big school building that had the look of a fortress more than anything. It was surrounded by thick iron walls, bleak and uninteresting, but a large feature noticed in the city, a "protected" school, for the rich kids and upper class students. The boy watched only half-interested as the newly let out students played in the "lawn". The lawn was more of a paved courtyard, since grass was not easily found in Suna.

His attention was drawn to one girl who kept sulkily to herself, drawing in a dirt patch with a sharp stick. She was the smallest one, and very different. Her eyes were a strange shade of purple. For a fancy rich girl her build was more muscular then the other dainty girls. The way she kept to herself and how the others went out of their way to stay out of her way showed that she was hardly welcome.

Her clothing was different from the others, a rather girly white kimono with a red obi, coming down into a red matching skirt. She wore socks and the heeled sandals. The difference was that her clothing was of poorer quality, and her clothing was dirtier. It was obvious that she was the only tomboy of the females. While most of the girls had accessories, all this girl had was a hair piece that had two pearls, on either side of her head that clasp her blonde hair back behind her ears and had a few ribbons connecting them. Two bits of her hair escaped her strange hair piece and hanged in front of her face and her bangs that were also too long, they almost covered her eyes, and the largest lock fell in a pointy manner on her nose. She looked almost sloppy compared to the other girls.

A girl followed by two rather dopy looking boys approached, and the observing boy stiffened. From the girl's dress it was easy to see that this girl was the richest, and ergo the leader.

Words were exchanged; she had dropped her stick the moment they had approached. The popular girl's face was turning red fast, but the other girl held her cool surprisingly well.

"You don't belong here Hakari-baka!" the girl hissed, her words drifting on the wind to the observing child.

More words that did not reach him were exchanged, and things were getting heated. The girl, Hakari, was finally beginning to show signs of anger. He moved closer, enchanted by Hakari, and oddly wanting to see what would happen next.

"Leave!" yelled the girl, giving Hakari a shove. Hakari was pushed back, but only one foot moved back, as if she was stepping back.

Harare's face went dark, anger growing, "Do that again…"

The girl, not wanting to be the coward, did shove her again, only this time Hakari didn't move. Instead Hakari grasped the girl's hands and twirled into the girl, so Hakari was standing just in front of the girl, her back to her, and the girl's arm over her shoulder. In a simple fluid movement the girl was flipped over her shoulder.

One of the boys made the mistake of trying to smash his hand over her head. Hakari's plum colored eyes caught it, quickly she blocked by making an X-shape with her hands. His fist was caught between her hands. She twisted one of her hands and caught hold of his wrist and in a split second she had the boy in an arm lock, his arm tightly held to his back. Hakari brought one foot up and kicked him to the ground, releasing his arm. The last boy blindly charged her; Hakari stepped out of his way at the last second and tripped him daintily. He crashed into his friend on the ground.

The boy, who had moved to a point he was at the iron gates, and had unknowingly been squeezing the rods of the iron gate, stared with worry and then amazement. The rich girl knew how to fight! But unbeknownst to Hakari, the mean girl was getting up. She grabbed the stick that Hakari had dropped and charged her. Hakari, turning around too late, braced for impact.

The boy growled and snapped his hand out, sand rose from the cracks in the stone pavement and wrapped around the rich girl's feet and hands, keeping her from moving. Quickly the small boy slipped in between the spaced iron rods and entered the place. As he moved closer his sand further entrapped the girl, who was screaming and struggling. The boys stopped and watched in fear, not daring to move or draw attention.

Though everyone in the court-yard, teachers included, watched though no one raised a finger to save the girl or to stop him, whispers flew throughout the court-yard of what would happen next.

A voice in his head edged him on. This girl deserved to be hurt; she was going to club this girl, Hakari, with a stick, maybe just because she was different. This girl did not deserve his pity or his kindness, she was a cruel spoiled thing who could and would only get worse.

As the voice continued to speak to him, the sand tightened around the girl. Who was screaming and crying now, delectable blood ran through his sand, exciting him in a way he had not yet felt.

"Let her go," one timid voice said.

Shocked he turned his head to the source. It was the pretty girl, Hakari. She stood at his side now, one gentle soft hand on his arm, "She's not worth it," she whispered in a way that no one would hear her except him.

No one had ever willingly touched him before. Never before had someone spoke to him so gently, save his uncle... Stunned he released the girl, and was surprised that the voice- maybe equally as stunned- had shut up.

"There," Hakari said, smiling. "Feel better?"

He nodded, even though he did not feel better, just stunned. Hakari took his hand in hers and quickly yet gently pulled him out of the way as the school nurse ran to the injured girl.

"I'm Hakari," she said, as she led him away, "What's your name?"

"Gaara." he answered timidly.

Hakari smiled brightly at him, "That's a cute name," she responded.

Gaara blushed and stared at her. He had never been around anyone, besides his uncle, who wanted to be around him, or who smiled at him the way she did.

"Wanna go to the park?" Hakari asked, out of no-where, breaking his thoughts.

Gaara nodded, and they walked on. They spent the rest of the day at the park. Hakari chattered about nothing and Gaara was more than content to listen to her. To him it was like looking through a magic glass into another world. Hakari told him stories about magical places outside the city walls and Gaara created sand flowers for her which gave her great delight. As the sun began to set Hakari went home, making him swear to met her there the next day. Gaara agreed solemnly and went to his home as well.

Gaara arrived promptly at the playground the next day, and waited for Hakari to appear. A few minutes had passed and Gaara feared that she had been convinced by someone to not come back. Fear and sadness crowded his heart until he spotted a flash of red rushing towards him.

There she came trotting down the path from her school as fast as her little feet could carry her without tripping over her sandals or the hem of her skirt, panting she stopped in front of Gaara, who had been sitting on a swing, waiting.

"Sorry," she choked out between gasps for air, "I had detention- for the fight."

Gaara frowned and noticed that she was covered in a layer of white chalk, probably from cleaning erasers, "Sorry-" he started feeling responsible for getting her into trouble.

"Oh don't worry," Hakari responded, nonchalantly, cutting him off. "I just snuck out the window the moment my teacher's back was turned!" she giggled and Gaara laughed quietly as well, not quite understanding what was so funny, and worrying if she should get in trouble later.

Hakari plopped herself onto the swing next to Gaara and started to lazily swing. She was a picture of childhood, unconcerned about the troubles of life or about what would come tomorrow.

"The sky's so pretty," Hakari remarked leaning her head back as she swung. Gaara watched her, his teal eyes on her purple ones that seemed so content.

He looked up at the sky as well. It was beautiful. The sun was setting and the sky swirled with different tints of pink, yellow, orange, and red. A few shades of blue swirled around and stars had just begun to shine through the haze of the sky.

"The swing is my favorite ride," Hakari said suddenly as she swung back and forth, "It feels like you're flying… like you could just touch the stars," she smiled wistfully, "I could go where I wanted, see what I wanted, and do what I want. Just fly and fly…"

Gaara smiled at her, taking pleasure in her pleasure. Hakari raised her head back up and looked at him, "You seem like a watcher to me," she stated reaching over and poking him. She giggled and he watched her face as is changed from wistful to happy, then to a contemplating expression which did not fit her child face.

Gaara stared at her, confused on what exactly a watcher was. He waited for Hakari to explain herself, which he knew she would.

"You seem happy just to watch people, but I think there's something else inside you, a different person, and a leader. You just have that way. I bet you're great at Simon Says!" Hakari giggled at her joke and swung higher in the air.

Gaara watched her, the gears in his head turning behind his jade eyes as he watched her carefully. To him, he thought she was just speaking babble. But, he was content to stay like this with her. No talking, unless she wanted to, just swinging and laughing. It was nice to feel loved.

"Hey, Gaara," came her sweet voice as she slowed, until she matched his swinging speed.

"Yes?" he answered, confused by her sudden change of emotion. She seemed almost serious now. Her purple eyes were on some kids who had come to the park to play, but had left the moment they saw Gaara.

"Why are they avoiding us?"

Gaara frowned, "They aren't avoiding you, just me," he said quietly diverting his eyes to the ground.

It was Hakari's turn to frown as she jumped off the swing. Her small body flew through the air, before landing nimbly on the ground. In a flash she stood in front of him, stopping his swing by grabbing onto the cords with her iron grasp. Her face was stern, like hard granite and her eyes were like purple diamonds peering into his soul.

"We're friends Gaara-kun," she stated, "If they're avoiding you, they're avoiding me too!"

Gaara nodded, not understanding her logic but feeling it would be useless to argue with her.

Hakari's look softened, "Why don't they like you?" she asked.

"Because they think I'm a monster," Gaara informed her sulkily. He was unable to lie to her, but he feared that if he told her the truth she would stop being his friend.

"You're no monster," Hakari stated haughtily standing up straight. Gaara looked at her, even with him sitting and her standing they were eye to eye.

"They're the monsters for being so mean to you!" she remarked, a fire in her amethyst eyes, "And I don't care if they never speak to me again! Because they aren't worthy of us!"

Gaara stared at her, and she at him for a few moments. When she realized her words were nonsense to Gaara she attempted to explain.

"Listen, Gaara," she said softly, her facial expression changing to a mothering look that Gaara had never had seen directed at him. "People are like…" she searched her mind for a good allusion, her face lighting up when she did, "Like the chalk boards we have at our school!" she explained.

Gaara's perplexed look only became more obvious. Hakari scratched her head and continued, "Well when you buy a chalkboard its clear right?"

Gaara nodded, "Well," she went on; "When humans are born that's how they are. They don't have any marks on them. Chalkboards are different sizes and shapes. Some kids have those cool new whiteboards. You can write on them with different colors, red's my favorite. Anyways, some chalkboards have chips in them, or have some sort of man-u-fac-tur-ing," she pronounced that word awkwardly, sounding it out, "problems, but you can still write of them," she babbled on.

Realizing that she had yet to come to a point she flustered on, "My point is, people aren't born with marks on them. They make their own marks, and that's what defines them as a person. The choices they make. Unlike chalkboards, there are some mistakes that can never be erased, or not fully. All of your choices and decisions define who you are. Not if you're a little chipped," she added playfully socking Gaara in the arm lightly; no sand came up to shield him even though it stung a bit.

"So don't let them define you, Gaara-kun. They can't draw on your "chalkboard" only you can," she smiled charmingly at Gaara, and eventually went home, letting Gaara stew there a little longer on her words. Gaara had never seen his beautiful but flaky friend so wise and solemn before.

A few weeks passed and they always met at that playground after school. No crisis arose, Hakari was never late by too long. Gaara always feared something horrible would happen because she was friends with him, and, one day she was very late.

He watched her walk over, her head down. He was surprised that instead of her uniform she was wearing a light pink jumper with a sleeveless white hooded jacket over it. Her hair was actually curly rather to how straight it normally was, and excluding two locks of hair, her hair was secured with blue ribbons. Dejectedly she sat down at her usual spot.

Gaara stared at her a while before asking what was wrong, "Oh it's terrible!" she exclaimed hardly waiting for him to finish asking his question before she jumped into her tale, "They kicked me out of the school!"

At least that explained why she wasn't in her usual dress, though Gaara was still unsure why she was upset. The children of that school were not very nice to her, though maybe her parents were displeased with her.

Hakari was quiet after that. Gaara tried to supply the conversation but seemed at a loss of what to say. Unlike Hakari, Gaara had problems keeping up a one-sided conversation.

Awkwardly, he tried to console her in the best way he knew: practical advice. "You could join the ninja academy with me," he put in, smiling as reassuringly as he could, though it came out as an awkward smile, rather than a reassuring one.

Hakari jumped from her seat, "Oh thank you Gaara!" she said as she threw her arms around him, hugging him tight, not even noticing the awkwardness of the smile. Gaara stiffened, wondering why his sand was unable to keep this girl off him, "That is a wonderful idea! I'll go ask now!" Retracting her arms from his neck she planted kiss on his cheek before dashing off.

Gaara touched the place where she kissed him, shocked. His jade eyes followed her fleeting form until she disappeared into the dusk.


	2. Episode Two: Courage of the Storms

**Author Note: **Okay I was ALMOST late. But here it is! This is only the first part, I wasn't able to finish the whole thing in a week. *Sigh* I'll have the second part next week. It might have to be three parts, but hopefully only two. Not much to add, couldn't resist the urge to use Arabian Nights song. Okay, so this is NOT going to be a romance fiction, or at least, that is NOT the center of this fic. It'll look that way for a while, but I promise I'll get out of that as soon as I can. Just have to get all that fangirl out of my system. Reviews are wanted, if I get 10 reviews by "Chapter 5" you'll get something special.

**Arc One:** The Legacy of the Beginning

**Episode Two**: Courage of the Storms

**Disclaimer: **In no way, shape or form do I own Naruto. However, I do own Hakari, Kana, and the stupid perverted boy. I'd tell you the name but that would be a spoiler, not a big one but still a spoiler.

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A blue tipped bird soared over a city. It was a strange city with sand in the streets from the desert beyond its gates. The buildings were the same color as the sand, and the blue bird was the only color in sight. Upon further notice, the buildings were made of sand, too. Even the inhabitants that roamed the street at this cool hour wore drab colored clothes. No tree or nest offered itself up to be the birds resting point. Finally finding a tall fig-tree by a rather large house the bird settled into the decaying leaves and branches and rested.

A strange noise was coming from the window closest to its perch. The bird raised its head and fluttered onto the window seal, the window was closed to keep the night air out and had yet to be opened.

Inside the window was a young girl's room. The room was mess with scattered clothing, shoes, and jewelry other various furniture. A happy squeak came from the bird's throat; if he could get inside he could make a very good nest out of those articles of clothing. The inhabitant of the room was asleep in her nest. It was a strange nest to the bird, raised off the ground with a wooden log next to it with light and noise sitting on it. The noise must have been a chirper. Humans seemed to like the noise of it, but it bothered this bird.

"Oh I come from a land, from a faraway place, where they'll cut of your ear if they don't like your face. It's barbaric, but hey, it's home," The words of the chirper were lost on the bird. He tweeted again, on key with the beautiful music; it was kind of pretty even if it wasn't coming from a pretty female bird. The song went on but the bird lost interest and flew back to its tree. It was preening itself when suddenly, "BEEP BEEP!" he squawked and flew off as fast as his wing would go.

Inside the child's room she too was screaming, "AHHHH!" she screamed shooting up. She calmed down immediately, and smoothed her disheveled hair, panting from the adeline that had just shot through her body. Her strange purple eyes turned to the alarm clock with an ironic analyzing look. She picked it up, it was a pink piece of plastic, with flashing red lights telling her it was time to get the move on, on top of it was an women in a dancing position in traditional, yet if Hakari wore that out her grandfather would die several times over, dancing outfit. The child turned it over so she saw the bottom of the hunk of evil, blaring plastic. On the bottom was a label that read 'wakes you up soothingly'.

"Soothingly, my ass," was her response as she hurled the offending thing across her room. The power cord was ripped out of the wall and the noise died instantly.  
"HAKARI!" came a powerful male's voice from below the floors of her room, "DON'T MAKE ME COME UP THERE!"

"I'm up!" was her shrill, and loud response. With a jerking motion she ripped the covers off her body and threw her legs over the side of her bed, and the slowly, like it hurt, she stood up. She stretched her arms out as far as they would go and rolled her head back. A yawn escaped her lips, "I have got," she said, talking to herself, "to get a new alarm clock."

She padded across the floor of her room to a mirror that stood next to her dresser and plushie chair. Peering into the mirror she examined the damage.

What looked back at her was a sun-tanned, heart-shaped face. Average-shaped mauve eyes roamed her reflection. Her lips were a light pink, they were not perfectly shaped but they had no blemishes. Hakari's nose was button-like, and she guessed it could be considered adorable, not that as a kunoichi she wanted to be adorable. Her general body was petite. She was only 4'6" and was thirteen years old. Despite her small size she was well toned for her age-group. No scars blemished her skin, though that was generally considered a good thing, as a soon-to-be ninja she would like to have some proof of her experience. (Regardless of the fact that such a young girl barely had any.)

Pulling away from her reflection she kicked off her panda-slippers and tugged off her thick sweat-pants and candy themed top. Lying on her ornate green chair, it belonged to her grandma years ago (and her great grandmothers before, and so on), were her clothing articles.

A pastel pink under-dress with a chocolate-colored over dress, a pink and brown hat, and chunky brown boots with pink stockings, it might not be the most ninja outfit, but Hakari could move surprisingly well in it. Before she donned her hat she flat-ironed her curly locks forcefully, "Back you demon curls!" she yelled as she methodically ironed her bangs and signature blonde locks.  
She stuffed her hat on her face and looked at her reflection, most of her hair was shoved behind her shoulders only two locks hung over her shoulders. Frowning Hakari tried to push back her bangs but they refused to stay out of her eyes. They had been shortened through the years so they no longer got in her eyes; she still had the pointy lock hanging over her nose.

"HAKARI!" This time it was a women's voice. Hakari dashed out of her room and hopped down the stairs.

On entering the kitchen which was the room that the stairs emptied into, Hakari had a plum hurled at her head. Hakari caught it easily and looked at her mom, "Perfect aim as usual, mom," she remarked sitting down at her spot at the low table.

"Your reflexes are improving," was her mother's only remark from her position at the stove. Hakari's brother was struggling not to laugh as he ate his breakfast soup. A nectarine to the back of the head, and a faceplant into soup shut him up.

"Don't forget, dad had to pour water on your head to get you up in the morning!" Their mother exclaimed, glaring at him, "Hakari is still light-years ahead of you!"

Hakari giggled and passed her brother a small, white napkin. He cleaned his face, "Yes, Hakari-chan is perfect," he grumbled and laughed.

"It wasn't fair," Hakari whispered to him, a smile on her face, "You're back was turned."

"I HEARD THAT HAKARI!"

"Got to go!" Hakari said springing up and ran out into the courtyard, taking her captured plum with her. A frying pan sat in her seat now. Hakari laughed cockily as she entered the building on the other side of the courtyard.

The building she entered was her father's butcher shop. Her father was about to open shop, just finishing up some meat. Hakari nodded her head to him, he frowned at her thoughtfully,

"Don't be late getting home," he said in his gruff voice, "I'll need you home later."

Hakari nodded her head and dashed out the door, taking a bite out of her plum. She trotted down the paved road her eyes roaming the sides of the roads. Street carts were opening up that sold many different things. Grinning she paused at one that sold food.

The lady who ran it was a dumpling-shaped women with graying raven colored, and styled, hair. She had lines around her mouth from smiling so often. Her clothing were more colorful then most of the people of the place, and she was already starting to sweat.

"You really should get an inside shop," Hakari giggled, "You're already sweating, it's not that hot."

The women startled turned to face the younger girl, "Oh Hakari! It's you." she smiled sweetly, then sighed, "Yeah, you're right, though this is not my home-land," she rubbed some sweat from her brow.

"Wearing white and muted colors help," Hakari giggled, the women swatted playfully at her head. "Where that drab? No way!" she exclaimed, "So what will you have?"

"Have any Anpan?" Hakari asked licking her lips looking through the glass at the fresh food already prepared.

The women laughed and fetched her one, "Made just for you." She said winking at Hakari, who giggled in response taking it.

Hakari began to dig through her pouch where she stored a few ryu for snacks and treats, but the women shook her head, "You've been such a help to me I couldn't ask any money from you. And it's good luck for the rest of the day!" The women smiled cheerily at her.

Hakari rolled her eyes, luck being a recurring topic. She bowed to her, "Thank you Etsu-san," and departed waving; the women waved as well until Hakari rounded a corner and disappeared from sight.

Hakari veered slightly off track and knocked at the door of a rather old house, chewing on her sweet-roll. A girl with rusty brown eyes, almost looking red in the sunlight, and light, purple hair opened the door.

"Hey Kana!" Hakari chirped.

"Don't talk with your mouth open," the girl scolded, walking out. She wore a rusty red shirt that was cut in many places and tan shorts that came down to her knees.

"Never a hello with you," Hakari pouted as the two walked on, it was still several minutes till they reached the school.

"RACE YOU TO CLASS!" Hakari suddenly announced, and then quickly took off.

"Hey! No fair!" Kana called after, taking off as well. Hakari had the lead, and the two seemed to run at the same speed. Kana caught up as much as she could and was a few paces behind her. The two ran through the halls, most of the students had gone into their classes already. Hakari flung open the door and was then thrown forward on top of a desk by an over eager Kana. Dazed Hakari rubbed her eyes and found herself face-to-face with a red-haired youth.

"Gaara-kun!" she yelped, turning a strange shade of red. Gaara appeared to raise an eyebrow, which was hard since he had none.

"Hakari…" he said in an awkward greeting, Hakari scrambled off the table and giggled.

"Kana and I were racing," she explained scratching the back of her head.

"We heard, the whole school heard..."

"Heh… so how are you?"

"Annoyed…"

"Oh… that sucks…"

"Eh…"

Hakari was still rubbing the back of her head when suddenly she found herself again face planted against Gaara's table. Gaara looked up startled to find his sister glomped to the back of Hakari. "Good Morning Hakai-chan!' she yelled in Hakari's ear. Hakari spasmed slightly, "Hey Temari…" she managed to choke out. Temari hopped off of her and Hakari got up, again. Her forehead was bright red, and she was obviously seeing stars. Gaara let out a low growl and Temari fled.

"Don't worry about it Gaara-kun. I'm used to having my head smashed into things…" It wasn't a lie. When you were as small as she was, getting crushed into things by excited big people was a daily thing.

"Sit." Gaara commanded, pulling out a chair next to him. Hakari did so, because she was inclined to not because he told her to. Even if Gaara could be a psycho killer, Hakari did not take orders from anybody! Except teachers, and people who ranked above her, and her parents, and her brother on occasion… okay she did take orders, just not from Gaara!

Now bored, Gaara was no source of either entertainment or conversation; Hakari looked across the room at the comedy going on. Kana, who had been going to her seat, had been confronted by a rather stupid youth. When Kana had first met Hakari she had been a quiet girl, whom she could still be from time to time. Her temper existed as a cold flash rather than Hakari's boiling lava temper. However, Hakari had a negative effect on her mental sanity. Kana had developed a similar temper to Hakari's, she could explode as well, and when she did, she was almost just as physical about it. The only difference was, Kana threatened first, Hakari hit first then threatened.

"YOU REPEAT THAT YOU LITTLE PERVERT!" Kana screeched. Hakari's amethyst eyes widened ever the slightest. Kana could yell?

"All I said was that you looked nice!" defended the youth that was the victim of her temper. The youth was an average sized boy, with a mess of blond hair- not as blonde as Hakari's- and dark, sea blue eyes. He looked innocent enough in his white tunic with the brown ornate embroidery and the brown pants, but Kana did not freak out over nothing.

"That is not what you said!" Kana shouted, "I'll mess you up kid!"

"Okay, so I asked you what size you were. It's a normal question!"

And Kana followed her threat, she did mess the kid up...without mercy. The poor boy had an unoccupied chair flung over his head. Hakari winced, that boy had some brain damage whether from Kana or birth she was not quite sure. Kana took the seat that the boy had fallen out of, and the boy was forced to sit next to her in the chair that had been slammed over his unsuspecting head. How ironic.

"Troublesome..." Gaara remarked rolling his eyes, looking irritated and bored.

Hakari laughed, and moved to put her hand on his but the sand flew up and blocked her. A frown appeared on her normally smiling face. She pressed her hand down so that only a thin layer of sand separated their hands.

"Don't be so serious..." she muttered and drowned off, causing him to look at her. She scrapped her fingernail against the sand soothingly it moved out of her way until she touched his skin. Gaara jarred and looked at her, "You can laugh," she finished looking up at him slowly, meeting his jade eyes.

Before anything more could happen the teacher walked in.


	3. Author Note

**Author Note: **Apology time. No new chapter this week. I've been sick since the middle of Monday and haven't been able to do anything but sleep and watch TV. I hoped I would be better and have enough time to make a quick chapter. However, obviously, that's not the case. I'll probably be well by the weekend. Or, at least, have the strength to type up Episode Three. I'm very sorry to be late. I promist to have a kick ass chapter by next Thursday, or maybe you'll get it in advance as an apology. You never know!

Merry Thursday,

A.T.C


	4. Part Two, Episode Two: The Golden School

**Author Note: **Here it is! On time, even (^^). Feedback is not only appreciated it is very intensely desired. Need to knows of the week, are as followed: I am currently looking for a "beta reader" or an editor, whatever you want to call it. I do already have one but people have commented on the errors still in here. So if anyone is up to the task email me or send me a private message, and we'll work something out. That's all for this week as far as need-to-knows go.

_Disclaimer: _I do not own Naruto, or any of it's characters

I _do own_ Hakari, her classmates (excluding the Sand Siblings) and her teacher. 

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**Arc One: The Legacy of the Beginning**

_Episode Two: Courage of the Storms (Part Two)_

He was tall, and very lanky. On his head was a mob of black hair, neatly trimmed, but it had several strands sticking up and curled in odd ways. Obviously this man was no good when it came to his hair. (Even though it's obvious he tries.) "Class, your attention please..." He rattled out in a disinterested voice. His name was Mamoru Okamoto; and he was way over qualified for the position.

Hakari was curious why he had this position, with his big brains he could have any job that he wanted, and it he obviously was not happy with this job. He spent most researching rather than actually teaching, not that Hakari was complaining...

"Today is your genin exam," Mamoru-sensei began, "it will be three parts. First, a written exam, and then you will demonstrate the three ninjutsu techniques that are required of all academy students, then there will be a physical test."

Hakari bit her lip, "Ohhhh not good," she thought, "I hate written tests!" She shifted uncomfortably in her seat as Mamoru passed at the tests. He looked at her with his piercing dark blue eyes. "Didn't study Asai?" he asked her. She couldn't help but wonder why she was the only one he referred to by their last name. Hakari turned multiple shades of red, trying to hide her embarrassment she muttered back, "It'll be a piece of cake…" What a lie.

Mamoru-sensei raised an eyebrow and walked on, clearly not believing her. Hakari didn't even believe herself.

Her eyes drifted down to the questions, and froze there, 'If Ninja A is in a fifteen foot tree and Enemy Ninja B is 10 feet away from the tree. How much force will it take to throw a standard sized kunai into his head which is approximately-' She read silently and quickly gave up on understanding the questions. Her eyes widened, "Well how the hell am I supposed to know if I can't even read the question?" she exclaimed mentally. Letting her head sag slightly she mournfully added onto that, "I'm soooooo screwed…."

A cough caught her attention. Gaara, next to her, had let his paper out from under his arm, answers clearly visible, written in thick, bold writing. She pondered for a split second. She shook her head and looked away back at her paper. She was not a cheater.

Though she had to wonder, what possessed Gaara to help her? Was it merely an accident or was it intentional? Gaara never helped anyone because he did not care about anyone but himself. Hakari accepted this as fact, if he showed her anything that looked like kindness it was merely the kindness a child showed his toy, and only because it was his. Gaara had changed so much so fast... She wondered if she did something wrong, or if something had happened. She shrugged it off.

"No fair," she thought, trying not to glare at her friend, "how is he already done?" she muttered flipping ahead in the pamphlet for an answer she could actually answer. Out of the fifty-some questions Hakari was able to answer at least 20 correctly, and five that she may have gotten right but was in no way sure on. Hakari racked her brain for the answers to the rest but kept coming up blank.

Instead of coughing to get her attention, Gaara tried a more direct approach this time. Hakari nearly squealed as sand shot up her back and wrapped around her arms. She found herself writing down the answers to the test slowly as she resisted.

"This is cheating! If I'm caught I'm dead meat!" She thought frantically, but she was unable to struggle too much or inform Gaara in any way to stop. That would alert Mamoru-sensei to what was going on. Not only did Hakari not want to get herself or Gaara into trouble, she was pretty sure that Gaara would kill her if she did, friend or not.

Her eyes, which she still had control over, darted over to Gaara. He appeared to be lazily sitting in his chair, glaring at some poor unsuspecting thing. If he looked like anything, he did not look like he was controlling his friend's body to write down the answers to the genin exams. How could he have such control over his sand and not look like he was doing anything? Hakari found herself brimming with jealousy and slight anger over her situation.

"Eyes on your own paper Asai!" scolded Mamoru-sensei. Hakari would have started if she had control over anything but her head and legs. Gaara, however, did start. Hakari felt sand slitter up at her back so fast it burned and snap her head back on the paper. Now she was unable to even move her own head. She sighed and stared at her paper as she continued to write against her will. Her eyes wandered the page, and the answers she saw made little sense to her. It was strange, Hakari could do the math in her head when she actually had to do the task but writing it on paper was impossible for her. The sand did not hurt her surprisingly, it was rough against her skin but it also had a silky like feel. It was strange and not unpleasant, except when she resisted and it tightened its hold around her body.

Just as she finished writing the last answer the paper was pulled from her hands. At the same time the sand that had been restricting her movements slowly pulled off of her and sneakily returned into Gaara's gourd. Instead of moving on, Mamoru-sensei was looking at her paper. Hakari turned her head from Gaara, whom she had been staring at the moment she had control over her head, to look at him curiously.

"Well, it looks like you did study," Mamoru-sensei remarked in a tone that suggested he knew what had happened. Luckily for Hakari he moved on, not requiring any remark or comment from herself.

Waiting till he was out of hearing range, Hakari then turned her head to Gaara, "What was that?" she hissed in a low tone.

Knowing what she meant, Gaara returned with, "You were going to fail."

Hakari blinked, momentarily stunned, "So…" she stuttered, "You helped me?" It was not in Gaara's nature to actually help people, and even though Hakari was his friend, she had a hard time believing that he would help her for that reason alone. Though Hakari wanted to believe it, she found herself unable to. So stunned was she that she forgot to be insulted at the affront to her intelligence. No matter how true it might be.

If Gaara could laugh, he would have at her expression, "I want you on my team." He remarked. "You're useful, and you listen. Plus I don't thirst for your blood as much as the others."

Hakari blinked, "Um…. I feel insulted for some reason, but I'm going to ignore it…."

Gaara was ignoring her at this point, so her comment fell on deaf ears. Hakari turned her eyes to Mamoru-Sensei.

He was sitting at his desk in the front corner of the class, "Now we begin part two…" he remarked looking up, and he began calling students up.

It was very simple what they were supposed to do. Once the student's name was called they would stand in front of him and perform the three techniques that we were required to pass: Henge no Jutsu, Kawarimi no Jutsu, and Bunshi no Jutsu.

Hakari was one of the first one called up. Unlike the test, Hakari was actually skilled with ninjutsu, "Okay Asai, transform yourself into… Gaara,"

She giggled this would be easy, any other form might have posed a challenge but she knew Gaara like the back of her hand. Making the required sign she transformed in a puff of smoke.

Mamoru-sensei nodded, "Very good…" he said slowly. Then suddenly he hurled an eraser at Hakari. It clocked her in the head and she fell back landing on her, or rather Gaaras' butt.

"What the- why'd you hit me!" Hakari exclaimed. Mamoru-sensei shrugged, "You pass that."

"Huh?"

"You kept your form," Mamoru-sensei exclaimed. Hakari raised an eyebrow wondering if it was necessary to chuck an eraser at her. It must have been comical to see Gaara so animated for the rest of the class; Hakari resumed her real form and got to her feet.

Next was Kawarimi, and Hakari was feeling tense. This jutsu was used to escape near death situations, and her sensei had chucked an eraser at her to test her Henge.

"Ready?" asked Mamoru-sensei. Hakari nodded hesitantly. Before she could blink there was five kunai heading towards her head. She screamed, and then heard the crowd "Aw". Poking her head up from behind the desk she saw an impaled desk chair. Her eyes widened, "You could have killed me!" she screamed comically, pointing her finger accusingly at Mamoru-sensei accusingly.

"But I didn't. And you passed that too," Mamoru-sensei responded with a smirk. Hakari raised her eyebrow again, "He's crazy.." she thought. One of her male class-mates helped her up and Hakari took her spot in front of Mamoru-sensei again.

Next was Bunshi, this one did not require putting her life in danger. It was very easy, Hakari created two other versions of her. After hearing that she passed, and her Sensei grudgingly giving her extra credit for multiple clones, Hakari resumed her seat and waited for her pulse to return to normal.

She watched without really paying attention to the others perform their own tests, dodging stray weapons, performing meanial jutsu, etcetera. Only when Kana, and Gaara and his siblings performed did she really pay attention.

Kana passed easily and without breaking a sweat. Well, Kana made it look easy, whether or not she found it easy, was something that would never be betrayed by her face.

Kankuro passed, but a little more comically then Kana. Temari looked badass even doing the "easy" techniques, she always looked badass- unless she smashing Hakari's head against a desk with her excitement.

Gaara was next and Hakari wondered how Mamoru-sensei would get him to actually do the techniques. With Gaara's sand shield it would be hard for Mamoru-sensei to do his usual, evil tricks.

"Hakari, would come up here?" Mamoru-sensei asked slyly. Unsuspecting of Mamoru-sensei's evil plan, Hakari rose and tromped over. She took her place at his side confused at what his attentions were.

Gaara was starring, with narrowed eyes at Mamoru. Hakari had the strangest feeling that to everyone else she had "Property of Gaara" printed on her forehead.

"Ah!- What the fuck?" Hakari shrieked and kunai being thrust between the fingers of her hand that she had been resting against the table. Gaara's eyes widened ever the slightest.

"I assume this is an incentive?" Mamoru-sensei asked, grinning slightly.

".insane," Hakari stated retracting her hand nervously. Luckily, for Hakari, Gaara performed his jutsus, letting- as much as he could- Mamoru-sensei test him.

The moment Gaara's test was over, sand shot out of his gourd, wrapping itself around her waist pulling her swiftly to her seat. Gaara was already sitting next to her. Hakari felt slightly like a rag doll, developing a sincere regret for how she treated her dolls as a child.

"You know I can wal-" Gaara silenced her with a particularly shriveling glare. Hakari laughed nervously and waited for Gaara to calm down as the last of the students preformed.

Next would be the physical exam, since there were exactly 24 students there would be only one round, and from the evil look on Mamoru-sensei's face he had already drawn up the names.

Hakari, who hated having A as the first letter of her name was the first one called up. Even though she knew Mamoru-sensei would never let her have an easy opponent she was feeling cocky, she had always been the best hand-to-hand fighter in her class.

However her air of arrogance quickly disappeared with a mammoth of a boy approached her, "That's my sparring partner?" Hakari screamed, "Oh of course," she thought, "Even though I'm the smallest kid in class, I'm going to be partnered up with the cave-man! My life sucks."

Hakari found herself just outside the classroom windows, it a ring of ground that had been cleared of sand as much as possible.

"Begin!" Mamoru-sensei declared.

"Why does he hate me?"

The mammoth kid charged her blindly, "Okay good, he's stupid," Hakari determined. She fluidly side stepped him at the last possible moment. Her arms shot out and latched on to his large, muscular arms.

Bending her knees and thrusting with her hip she managed to lift the boy and swing him, mostly using his own momentum. Quickly she released, sending him flying forward, but fly that boy did not. He went more like stumbling forward; looking like he might fall on his knees, but it was enough for Hakari.

Not missing an opportunity to attack the boy, she had the strange feeling his name was Ichi. Ichi, if that was his name, managed to stop his half-fly-half-fall and was recovering his balance, about to whip around and attack her. Hakari, however, took advantage of this momentarily fight with gravity to charge him. At the last second she put her weight on her back leg and snapped her foot up, front kicking him in the chin. Ichi's head snapped up.

Hakari's body kept going back, her hands hit the ground and her second foot crashed into his face sending him flying up. She flipped fully to her feet, her back to Ichi. When Ichi fell back down to earth Hakari kicked again, this time in more of a push-kick.

Ichi hit the ground with a thud. Producing a kunai from her case hanging from her hip Hakari pounced on him, pinning him with her kunai to his neck.

"That was surprisingly easy…" Hakari muttered as the youth glared up at her. She had expected more of a challenge from such a tough looking boy, however, Hakari was small, strong, and fast giving her the upper hand.

"Asai wins." Mamoru-sensei announced, was that disappointment in his voice? Hakari got to her feet and ran to Kana ignoring the twinge in Mamoru-sensei's voice.

"Does that mean I passed?" She asked her friend in hushed tones as the next fight had already started.

"Since you passed all three tests- to my knowledge- I guess so," Kana responded, her eyes trained on the fight.

"Yes!" Hakari squealed and turned to watch the next fight to see who her potential team-mates would be.

Kana was one of the next to go. She was fighting some girl who was bragging about how easy Kana would be to fight. Hakari shrugged. Maybe the old Kana would have been easy, but this Kana did not just roll over to the first person who tried to discourage her.

Kana glared at the girl before her and said in a low voice, "All talk no action… as usual Wren."

The girl's jaw dropped in shock. Hakari knew that she had never been talked to in that tone and did not expect to ever be talked to in that tone. Her eyes hardened even more against the girl, "Kick her ass Kana!" she screamed, pumping a fist in the air, not realizing that her outburst brought all eyes to her petite form.

Kana began by throwing four kunai at Wren. Wren countered perfectly with four of her own, smirking superiorly at Kana. A glare hardened on Kana's reddish eyes. Kana charged making a series of signs and splitting into three. The real Kana crossed over so she was to the right, then middle, then left, then middle again confusing Wren who was preparing to block the attack from the real one.

Her first crashed painfully into Wren's jaw. Wren was knocked off balance by the assault. Kana took advantage of this to send her foot into Wren's stomach. Unfortunately, Wren had the awareness of mind to catch hold of Kana's foot. Wren wrenched Kana's foot to the side and Kana flipped through the air landing on her hands and knees.

Instead of taking advantage of her position over Kana, Wren smiled victoriously and opened her mouth to make a smart remark. Kana stopped that comment right in Wren's throat by digging a kunai into Wren's leg. Wren toppled over cradling her leg in pain, "You bitch!" she screamed as Kana got to her feet.

Kana smirked down at the girl and snap kicked her foot into Wren's face. Wren's upper half went flying back, crashing into the earth, where she seemed to stay her light brown hair masking her face. She seemed to be out cold, but Kana was cautious as always.

Carefully Kana approached the girl, her eyes on her face and hands. As usual, Kana's suspicions were accurate. Wren, in fact, had been faking. This realization came about when Wren suddenly and with lightning speed jerked up attempting to slash Kana's leg. Kana blocked with a kunai of her, with her spare hand she reached into her bag and tossed three shuriken at Wren. Quickly, Wren disengaged to roll out of the way of the assault and onto her feet. Just as she got to her feet, Kana's foot was connecting with her neck. Wren found herself flung back to the ground, Kana's foot guiding the way. There Kana's foot stayed threateningly against Wren's neck. Wren glared up at her with such a burning hate that Kana blinked in surprise. However, it did not matter because…

"Kana wins." Mamoru-sensei announced as Kana resumed her place to Hakari's side.

"WHOOT!" Hakari cheered, jumping up and down for her friend. Kana smiled slightly, covering said smile with her hand.

"You were awesome!"

Eventually Temari and Kankuro went, each defeating their opponent with flying colors. Next up was a blond boy; in fact, it was the boy who had made the tragic mistake of ticking Kana off earlier that day. Hakari could have burst out laughing at the expression on Kana's face. She could not help but pity the poor sucker who would be fighting this boy whom Kana had decided she hated. If he managed to lose against this idiot, Kana would maim him for not "avenging" her honor- or something to that effect. Worse yet, if this perverted boy did happen to win, then there was a chance he could be on one of their teams. Hakari did not like the idea of having this boy on her team, but she would feel very sorry for him if he got on Kana's team- she would kill him the moment their sensei's back was turned.

"Minoru, your opponent will be Jai," Mamoru-sensei said. The boy, Jai, stepped into the "ring".

Minoru, or the pervert as Hakari liked to call him, was the first to attack. He quickly made use the third jutsu they had to learn to become genin and split into three, two of them illusions. These illusions were not well done, you could not see the grass being moved when they walked, just little things like that were obvious to the naked eye. However, Minoru had gotten lucky with a stupid opponent who was easily fooled. Minoru, and his illusions, charged interweaving their movements so Jai lost track of who was who. Each Minoru produced three shuriken and tossed them at Jai while they continued their charge. Jai, utterly confused over which was which simply dived out of the way.

Minoru made a sharp turn and kicked Jai, in the butt, to Hakari's amusement. Jai went flying head of heels and landed on his back, his head to Minoru. Either he was dizzy or stunned because Jai did not get up, not that Minoru waited for it to happen. Minoru raised three more shuriken and threw them at Jai's head. Hakari screamed and covered her eyes, Minoru turned his head to see who was screaming and why, not recognizing her voice. Before Minoru could turn his head back to Jai he found Jai's fist- smashed into his face. Minoru went sprawling onto the ground, Jai hovering over him with a kunai.

Minoru frowned and quickly tripped the boy, tackling him almost comically to the ground. He grabbed Jai's hands and held them above his head, "Surrender or I'll… bite your nose off!" Minoru threatened clumsily.

There was a long awkward silence before Mamoru-sensei announced. "Well… I guess Minoru passes…"

Minoru took his place triumphantly among his peers, while Jai sulked to his spot. The next fight would be a little scarier and hopefully less embarrassing. Gaara was up, and anyone could tell just from glancing at Hakari that even she was uneasy. All eyes were on Mamoru-sensei, to see what child he had doomed to this cruel fate. Mamoru-sensei picked a boy of average height and average weight, nobody special. The boy's name was Akume, and though he was not special, he was not stupid. He took his place in the center of the ring and announced, "I forfeit!" Then ran for his life.

No one blamed him, but they were all curious to see if Gaara would chase after him to get his blood. A quick look from Hakari caused Gaara to take his spot with his uneasy siblings and keep quiet there, not that he was ever unquiet

Besides that minor issue the rest of the sparring went on without a hitch. When it was finished twelve students were left. Mamoru-sensei ordered anyone who lost the sparing match home. It did not seem to matter if you failed any of the other tests as long as you won. Hakari frowned, wondering what the point of the other two tests was.

Everyone went inside and took their seats. Hakari's dark purple eyes scanned the room to see who was left. "The Sand Siblings" had all passed, there was no surprise there. Kana, herself, and that pervert passed as well. Hakari could not help but pity the team that had Minoru on it, his victory had been less then well achieved. Akahana Konoe, whom Hakari spied close to the front of the class her hands folded on top of her desk as she patiently waited to get a team, had also passed.

Akahana was one of the more serious students in the class. She was more mentally mature then more of the students, and was a slight kiss-up and brown-noser. Because of the three glaring facts she was not really friends with anyone in the group. All the girls stuck together of course, excluding Kana and Hakari who stayed on the fringes, but Akahana did not have an particular friends. Two boys, who had also passed, by the names of Bishamon and Chokichi seemed to follow her around, not because they liked her but because she was fun to play tricks on. Hakari knew this first hand.

Bishamon and Chokichi were fast friends. They were the class' clowns, though notorious cowards, they cowered and caved under the stern eyes of anyone and ran at the first sign of trouble. Hakari changed her mind, she would gladly have Minoru on her team over these two jokes.

The only other girl who passed was Hamako. Hakari was not a particular friend of hers, but she did enjoy spending time with her. Hamako was an average student, she paid attention did her work on time and to the average standard. She excelled only with weapons. The girl was cute, sweet, and an overall good person though she could be a loud mouth.

The last two boys that were left of the "passing" class were Danno and Hiroshi. Though not blood related they could have been brothers. Both in appearance and personality they matched perfectly, and they had been joined at the hip (not literally) for as long as Hakari could remember. These boys were not trouble makers, and they were only slightly above average.

Hakari blinked, "We have a very nondescript, unimportant passing class this year," she thought, and she was right. Outside of the sand siblings none of them seemed to bring any attention to themselves.

Mamoru-sensei spoke, breaking Hakari's thoughts, "Team Three will be-"

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Merry Thursday,

A.T.C


	5. Episode Three: The Mud Dragon

**Author Note: **Okay, so I'm sorry about last week. I got grounded before I could post. And my reason for ALMOST being late this week was simply, well me and my editor have really need to get our hats on straight about WHEN I'm going to send and WHEN he's going to send it back. It's been what, almost a month? And yes, we have yet to work out a system. We need to knuckle down and fix that issue. Anyways, I'm sorry it's so short. But just think how long of a story you got last time. I think that makes up for this. No promises about the length of the next chapter, though from what I have planned it will probably be long. Kinda like this note. Review, damn you.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto, I do own all of the O.C's so bitch back off.

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**Arc One: The Legacy of the Beginning**

_Episode Three: The Mud Dragon _

No. Way. In. Hell...

Hakari was slack-jawed in shock. There was the good news, Kana was on her team. How lucky was she that she had beat the shit out of her opponent in the exams? If her opponent had won then Kana would have Hakari's opponent as a teammate instead of her. Still there was the horrible news; Gaara was not on her team. While that may not be the most horrible bit, it did mean that another male was on her team. More importantly it was that disgusting pervert, Minoru. Glancing over at Kana, Hakari could only see pure rage on her face. This was not going to end well.

Gaara was placed on a team with his brother and sister. This was better than him being with some random strangers. Still, like a child being separated from his toy, Gaara did not look pleased. Hakari felt bad for whatever would be his outlet, or whoever. Feeling she'd better say something before someone was, brutally, murdered, Hakari leaned over to whisper to Gaara. She had heard that soft voices soothed animals, and Gaara well, Hakari did not want to risk aggravating him.

"It's no big deal Gaara," she murmured, "And be careful. If people didn't know you they'd think you cared about me," she added, trying to make a joke.

While Gaara did not respond well to jokes, it at least reminded him that he was a stone-hearted child who was not supposed to care about anyone but himself. This called him down.

"Boys are so strange…" She could not help but thinking.

Kana and Minoru walked over so they could 'be a team'. Gaara gave Minoru one long hard look and stated in his cold voice "Watch yourself." Then he got up and walked, (if a walk could be threatening Gaara's was) to his siblings.

Hakari lifted her eyes from Gaara's form over to Kana and Minoru, focusing mostly on Minoru, "He's just a little grumpy today…" she remarked, trying her best to be comforting.

Minoru just gulped in response.

**XxX**

Frustration was mounting up in the pit of Hakari's stomach. It was forty five minutes after their sensei was supposed to be here, and he still had yet to make his appearance. Everyone else was gone; it was just her team now. Kana was sitting in the chair that Gaara usually sat in her head in a face palm position on the desk. Minoru was sitting across from them looking rather pointedly at Hakari's chest. Raising her eyebrows slightly Hakari stated dryly, "What are you looking at?"

Minoru raised his eyes to her face, "Nothing..." he answered without a trace of sarcasm or anything to imply he was purposefully being rude. That made him all the more infuriating. Hakari turned several shades of red and bolted up from her spot onto of the desk. "What are you trying to say?" She hissed, trying her best to hold in her temper.

"You're chest is flat!" Minoru clarified, clearly confused by her reaction.

Hakari twitched, resisting the calling in her mind to pummel this boy into nonexistence. Kana had raised her head and was trying not to laugh.

"I am twelve years old, it's natural for me not to be fully developed," Hakari stuttered out, taken back at this boy's forwardness, and tactlessness.

"You're right," the boy said, nodding in agreement. Hakari let out a sigh of relief, and sat back down happy that this awkward and insulting conversation was over, "But I would expect you to have something there,"

"That's it!" Hakari screeched in a split-second her fist was connected to Minoru's jaw. Minoru was sent hurtling into the wall, head over heels. Hakari swore he flipped a few times. He slumped to the floor looking up at her confused.

"Wa-cha…" Hakari muttered turning her back.

"I don't know why you're so defensive." Minoru muttered. Hakari twitched. What was this boy's damage? Her blood boiled in rage, he needed to shut up now, or Hakari could not be held responsible for his welfare.

"I mean," Minoru explained, "Kana is a year younger, yes? But she has relatively well developed breasts. Maybe it's your baggy shirt?"

Kana's eyes widened. She had been watching the exchange with amusement, but now her eyes hardened against Minoru. Hakari twitched as well. Her shirt was not baggy.

Hakari was sporting her new ninja outfit. It consisted of: a light pink shawl like shirt that had a hood on the back for protection from the wind and sand, the standard black ninja pants, and the standard black ninja shoes, her headband was tied up as a hair band, though her two long locks of hair still hung in her face.

Kana was wearing a light purple sleeveless top that was a deep v-neck, underneath was a black shirt that sleeves ended at her elbows. She wore a sand colored skirt with lavender shorts underneath; her headband was tied around her neck. And of course, black stands ninja shoes.

Minoru, the jackass, was wearing a pale blue top with a sand colored vest over it, grey standard ninja pants, and black ninja shoes.

Minoru broke her thoughts about their wardrobe with, "Well if we want to know for sure, you'll just have to take off your top."

That. Was. It!

Hakari was going to break his neck. She turned on her heel and was halfway through her punch when the door of their classroom burst open. Hakari's fist stopped dangerously close to Minoru's nose.

In walked their teacher, "You're late!" exclaimed Kana and Hakari simultaneously. Minoru would have chorused in, but he was afraid of Hakari currently.

Their sensei had a mop of brown hair that reminded Hakari of their old teacher, Minoru. Her purple eyes scanned his figure. He was tall and lanky like Mamoru-sensei. Even his features were similar to Mamoru-sensei's. Except, while Mamoru-sensei's features were sharp, defined, and striking, this man's were more rounded, less defined, and almost lazy in appearance. While Mamoru-sensei attempted to tame his locks every day, it was clear that this gentleman had never bothered, probably in his life, to take a comb to it.

The man gave off the impression of laziness, laxness, and an overall carelessness concerning everything. Hakari took an instant disliking to the man. She preferred men of action, strong types. This man looked as strong as a reed by the waters of an oasis.

Still the similarities between Mamoru-sensei and this man where too many. "You're Mamoru-sensei's brother?" Hakari questioned, moving her hands to her hips. Minoru slowly got up, and inched away; glad to see someone had distracted Hakari from causing harm to his facial features.

The lazy looking man nodded, "Yes, I am Rusuban Okamoto." He grinned, his face brightened as he held up his hand, a small glass placed tightly in his palm. He tilted his head back and downed the contents of the glass. He hiccupped drunk. "Let's get started."

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Remember, Review.

Merry Thursday~


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